Unholy Empire: Chronicles of the Host, Vol 2: Chronicles of the Host, Book 2 (18 page)

Gabriel lifted his eyes in surprise at Michael’s words and glanced in the direction he was looking. Making his way once more through the sacred assembly was Lucifer, bold as ever. He made his way up to the foot of the Throne and bowed a sweeping bow. How many times would the Lord endure Lucifer’s rude interruption of the gathering? Every eye was upon the fallen angel, who had once graced this room with marvelous praise. Now he brought only disgrace.

“
Where have you come from?
”

“Ah, great Lord,” Lucifer began. “Once more I come from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it. Most recently from Uz, Most High.”

“
Have you indeed considered My servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and shuns evil; he fears God and is upright. What’s more, he maintains his integrity, though you incited Me against him to ruin him for no reason!
”

The very room trembled upon the Lord’s last few words, as every angel felt the Most High’s apparent disgust with Lucifer. Lucifer weathered the rebuke and continued on sharply.

“Skin for skin, Most High!” he responded. “Even a man like Job would give all he has for his very life. As long as you allow Michael’s legions to hedge him in, he will remain loyal to You. But stretch out your hands against his body, O Lord; strike his flesh and bones and he will surely curse You to Your very face—or I know nothing of humans!”

Michael could not believe Lucifer’s extraordinary brashness. Inwardly he seethed at his enemy’s casual manner and unwanted presence. Still, as Lucifer had pointed out, he had a legal right to bring charges against humans to the Lord.

“
Very well. Job is in your hands. Do as you will to his person, but you must spare his life.
”

“As you wish,” said Lucifer, bowing as he left.

Job’s wife had hardly spoken since they had lost their children. She and her husband had tried their best to continue on, but it was very difficult to start over at their age, with no family or servants to help. She looked at the countryside of Uz, once one of her great pleasures, now a painful reminder of the tragedy that had overtaken her. As she kneaded the bread and prepared to bake it for the day’s meal, she heard her husband coming in from the field.

“I think I made some progress today,” Job called out as he drew a long drink from the well near the house. “Those fields will yield crops once more, I swear!” Job emptied the dipper and wiped his sweaty brow. He then made his way around the house to the oven in the back where he knew his wife was working. “We must have hope.”

Unseen to both of them, a number of evil angels were watching. Awaiting the signal, they snickered among themselves. They were a brutal-looking lot, who had given over completely to their base character and were now permanently and horribly disfigured—an appearance that many of the once beautiful angels had become accustomed to.

The leader of this crew, Glacus, a warrior of Prian’s legion, lunged out at Job, glancing his body, and then swirled back around quickly to sink his teeth into Job’s shoulder. Job didn’t seem to feel the attack. Other devils joined in the assault and soon, like a pack of wolves on an unfortunate animal, they covered Job’s body, biting, clawing, and shrieking with delight at the havoc they were causing.

Job’s wife turned to greet her husband. She looked at him, at first thinking the sun was playing with her eyes. She rubbed them and looked again at Job.

“Woman, what is the matter with you?” asked Job.

His wife suddenly began to scream hysterically, while the devils rolled with laughter. Job looked at his arms and noticed boils beginning to fester up right in front of his eyes. He felt them coming up everywhere from his face down to his ankles. His wife wouldn’t even look at him.

By now Lucifer had arrived with Kara and a few other higher-ranking demons. They watched the progress with great interest—and with great hope. Lucifer had staked a good measure of his pride on the collapse of Job’s integrity. He ordered the noisy devils away from the house and concentrated on the final assault on Job.

“I think now, Kara,” said Lucifer.

Kara nodded, walked over to Job, and began to speak into his mind that God had truly abandoned him. Whispering directly into Job’s ears, Kara told Job what a fool he had been for trusting in a God who had thrown him over, destroyed his family, ruined his commerce, and now attacked his body. Kara was better at the art of accusation than any other angel—apart from Lucifer, naturally.

Job moved to an old fire pit, which only a week earlier he had used as a place of sacrifice to the Lord in the presence of his now dead children. Lucifer watched at first with curiosity, and then with growing trepidation as Job gathered some ashes and began throwing them all over his body. He covered himself from head to toe with the sooty remains, and then sat down and began to scrape the boils with pieces of broken pottery. Kara and some of the others began to laugh at the sight of dirty Job scraping his wounds.

By now Michael had arrived with several angels, all of whom watched the scene in shame. Lucifer looked at Michael with a smirk.

“Well, archangel, I always did say that humans were a dirty lot.”

Several of Lucifer’s angels started laughing.

Before Michael could answer, Job’s wife came out in a sobbing rage, one of Kara’s devils neatly grasping her head in a tight, wrench-like grip. She was through with it. She had given up. The devil, a spirit of discouragement, had done his job well, and she had succumbed. She was amazed and further enraged at the spectacle of Job sitting in ashes and scraping the boils with shards of pottery.

“Are you still holding on to your integrity?” she said angrily. “Sitting here in ashes and mourning? Your God has abandoned you! Can’t you see that?”

The devil grasping her head whispered into her mind the words, “Curse God!”

She immediately blurted out hysterically, “Why don’t you curse God and die?”

Job looked up at her for a moment as all of the angels awaited his reply. Lucifer’s gamble depended on the next few words. Job lifted his eyes and said, “You are talking like a foolish woman! Shall we accept only the good things from God and not the bad? Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Chronicles of the Host

Failed Gambit

Much to Lucifer’s surprise, as well as his rage, Job proved on that day that humans are indeed quite capable of maintaining a faithful choice even in the most pressing of circumstances. Job maintained his integrity, even though a great debate with his friends, who, though well-intentioned, misunderstood completely the nature of Job’s condition.

Our enemy, though discouraged in his failed attempt at disgracing the Lord through Job, continued as before, wreaking havoc upon mankind in general, and on Abram’s family in particular. But the Lord reaffirmed His covenant with Abram, and because of Abram’s belief, the Most High accredited him with righteousness, something that we angels thought impossible for any man. Our enemies attempted to spoil the sacrifices at this solemn occasion, but the Spirit of the Lord made a covenant with Himself and affirmed Abram’s destiny as a father of multitudes. And with the covenant came a dreadful prophecy:

“Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions”

What this meant for the humans seemed painfully clear… what it meant for our wicked enemy was something altogether unfathomable…

C
HAPTER
10

“This is dangerous faith, my brethren

“Abram grows older,” said Pellecus. “Look at him.”

“Pitiful wretch,” agreed Kara. “How can he possibly hope to have a child at his age? The promise of the Most High grows as old as he!”

Several of the angels in the group laughed at Kara’s remark. They watched as Abram opened a flap on his tent. He stood gazing on the horizon where his men tended the flocks, which were being moved to water. Even though Abram was an old man now, he still loved the nomadic life of a herdsman. He would never admit that to Sarai, however; she preferred a more settled lifestyle. From within the tent he could hear her snapping at one of the servants.

“What a delight marriage must be,” said Kara. “Especially when one is married to so vocal a woman as Sarai.”

The others laughed.

Several holy angels encamped about the area stood silent sentry. Jeering devils tried to provoke them but to no avail.

“Come now, that was humorous,” said Kara to one of the angels who stood beside Sarai’s tent. He looked back at Kara but made no voice. “War certainly brings the worst out of the Host, doesn’t it? I recall in Heaven you had a marvelous sense of humor, Jakkar.”

The angel remained silent and resolute.

“I should think that he would move if one of us attempted to enter the tent,” said Rugio, who was inspecting his ever-present legion that dogged Abram night and day. Jakkar eyed Rugio and made a slight movement toward the sword in his belt.

“There, you see,” Rugio laughed loudly. “It
does
move!”

Another harsh word from within the tent pierced the air—this time directed at Abram, who had gone in to speak to his wife. The devils were howling with laughter at Abram’s predicament.

“We may not have to defeat Abram,” said Pellecus. “Perhaps his woman shall destroy him for us!”

“Perhaps she will,” said Lucifer, who had appeared suddenly in the camp.

Upon his appearance the holy angels heightened their alert. Within seconds several more angels swept in from Heaven and surrounded the tent of Abram and Sarai. Lucifer watched the commotion caused by his arrival.

“You know, the more I am around the angels of the Most High the more important I feel!” he said.

His angels laughed loudly.

“Too bad Michael isn’t here to witness such tactical efficiency. I’m sure he would be proud!”

The sound of a piece of pottery crashing inside the tent was followed by Abram’s frustrated exit. Sarai stuck her head out of the tent and screamed after him.

“I tell you I cannot live like this anymore,” she said. “I am too old to have a child.” She dropped her head and began sobbing. “The Lord has kept me from having children! But without a child we will have nothing. Nothing!” She disappeared back into the tent, weeping.

Sarai was an attractive woman, even though she was approaching 80 years of age. True, she had lost the youthful beauty of earlier years, but she was still quite desirable. Several times in their married life other men had looked at her with eager eyes, and Abram was aware of their attention toward her. She disappeared back into the tent and wept.

Lucifer turned to greet his demons and thanked them for assembling as he had requested. When they had vacated the area for a more secluded place of meeting, he called them to order and began speaking.

“It is, I am discovering, the nature of warfare to try different tactics, different strategies, until a proper and successful ploy can be realized,” he said. “The reason I had you assemble in Abram’s camp was to make observation. When faced with a formidable enemy, it is wise to make note of him.” He turned to various members of the War Council and asked them,” What did you observe this day?”

The Council looked around at each other for a moment. Some offered hopeful comments about the fact that no heir had been born to Abram. Others mentioned that the pair of humans were becoming older and would soon be altogether too old to have children. One remarked on Abram’s unsettled nature.

“I see a different picture than my colleagues,” said Pellecus, who stood to speak. “I see Abram, recently visited by the Lord in dramatic covenant. I see a man, who though discouraged at times, is propelled by an inner hope that remains steadfast—Abram is a man of faith!”

“Precisely,” said Lucifer. “Abram is a man of faith. I suspect there isn’t much that we can do to shake that hope. It has become a part of him. The Lord has even declared him righteous because of his belief!”